The purpose of this section is to enable firms to provide data on the current fee tariff measures that apply to each of the regulated activities of mortgage lending and mortgage administration.

1. Fees data is required to calculate firms' FSA periodic fees and share of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) general levy. Mortgage lending and administration are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), so no FSCS fee tariff data is needed. Firms are liable to pay the FOS general levy unless exempt from the FOS under Fees Manual Chapter 5 (see FEES 5.1.4) in the FSA Handbook. For further guidance on exemptions, please see FOS exemptions. To declare exemptions, please complete the FOS exemption form.

2. Details of existing fees rules and guidance are in the Fees Manual (‘FEES’)

Section J help texts are subject to change during the year due to consultations made on our fees rules.

So before completing Section J, you should also refer to latest publications on fees. These will explain any proposed changes to the tariff data you must report, and the expected date when any changes will be implemented.

For further information on fees and levies, please visit our fees pages.

General information for reporting fee tariff data in Section J

3. Fee tariff data in Section J only needs to be reported once a year, under the rules in the FEES Manual Chapter 4.4.

When must Section J be completed?

4. Firms must report the fees information required by section J once a year, in their accounting year end MLAR only. If you do not need to complete this section of the return for a specific period then please leave the cells blank. You must however press 'validate' in order that the return can be submitted.

What data should be reported in Section J?

5. Firms must report the FSA and FOS fee tariff data set out in Table 1 below.

The relevant fee tariff measures may change from time to time and will be amended through the rules in the FSA Handbook. The following table sets out what data is needed for FSA fees and the FOS general levy, and the relevant guidance to complete Section J:


Table 1: Summary of activity groups, tariff data and guidance for completing Section J of the Mortgage Lending and Administration Return

  Activity group Summary of tariff data to be reported in Section J Further guidance
FSA A.2 fee-block (mortgage lenders and administrators) Number of mortgages Rules: FEES Manual Chapter 4 Annex 1R Part 2 and 3 of the FSA Handbook.
Additional guidance: A.2 tariff data
FOS Industry block 1 (Deposit acceptors, mortgage lenders and administrators (excluding credit unions) Number of relevant accounts

Rules: FEES Manual Chapter 5 Annex 1R Part 2 of the FSA Handbook.

Additional guidance on 'relevant accounts':

FOS Industry block 1

 

To get an indication of your likely fees and levies, you may wish to use the ‘online fee calculator’, available on our fees pages .

6. The FSA fees year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Firms with an accounting reference date between 31 December and 31 March (inclusive) must calculate the information required by section J as at 31 December of the calendar year immediately before the start of the relevant fee year. Section J data must be reported in firms' accounting year end MLAR.

Example 1: A firm's ARD is 31 March; the firm must report data as at 31 December 2007 in the MLAR they complete for the period from 1 January 2007 to 31 March 2008. We must receive the data by mid-May 2008. We will use this data to calculate the firm's fees and levies for 2008/09 invoices.

7. All other firms must calculate the information required by this section as at 31 December of the previous calendar year i.e. the 31 December before the start of the previous fee period.

Example 2: A firm's ARD is 30 June; the firm must report data as at 31 December 2006 in the MLAR they complete for the period from 1 April 2007 to 30 June 2007. We must receive the data by mid-August 2007. We will use this data to calculate the firm's fees and levies for 2008/09 invoices.

8. Table 2 below explains which year to calculate fees data for, as at 31 December, using the 2008/09 fee period as an example:

Table 2: Summary of data needed to be reported in Section J of the Mortgage Lending and Administration Return for 2007/08 fees


Note: Section J data must be reported in firms' accounting year end MLAR

Accounting reference date 'As at' date of fees data
30 April 2007 31 December 2006
31 May 2007 31 December 2006
30 June 2007 31 December 2006
31 July 2007 31 December 2006
31 August 2007 31 December 2006
30 September 2007 31 December 2006
31 October 2007 31 December 2006
30 November 2007 31 December 2006
31 December 2007 31 December 2007
31 January 2008 31 December 2007
28 February 2008 31 December 2007
31 March 2008 31 December 2007

 

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